Fight Club: Rebekah Yeoh & Teo Yi Ping

It was during my time in boarding school that I started being actively involved in fitness, together with Yi Ping! As our boarding school was in the middle of nowhere, all we wanted to do was work out and eat. Ping and I decided that in between classes and dinner we would go to the gym together, encouraging each other and pushing each other to do more. We were also the first international girls to qualify for our school netball team and we eventually took up tennis together. That encouraged us to stay actively involved in the sports community.

It is a commitment to stay active especially with my hectic work and travel schedule. I work out every day for an hour straight after work, just before dinner. If I can’t because I have a work dinner or a social meeting, I will wake up at 6am and exercise before work. If I can’t do it in the morning because I need sleep, I will do it during my lunch hour. There is no escape. When I travel for work, I try to book hotels with gyms. I then squeeze in an hour before bed time for a quick workout. When I am in a rush, I reduce time consumed at the gym by increasing my cardio speed and carrying heavier weights.

What I genuinely enjoy most about Flycycle is being part of a community and making new friends in a subtle, non-jarring away. I believe our generation of youth don’t derive the same satisfaction from partying or heavy drinking anymore. I believe the culture is shifting towards healthy living, clean eating and an active lifestyle.

I look up to my father for ‘fitspiration’. He is the busiest man in the world and still finds time to cycle two to three hours a day during which he reads books and documents at the same pace of my office scanner.

Teo Yi PingInstructor at Flycycle

The biggest difficulty was to learn to instruct and work out consecutively, as well as motivating your riders. Having to speak while sprinting on a bike isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. An instructor requires you to do more than just a workout. Essentially, it’s like a performance on stage. You have to basically set the tone for the entire class – the lights, the song, the routine, the energy. Your energy alone has to act as a catalyst for others to sprint throughout the class. Your words have to empower the riders to take the extra mile.

Being active has always been a part of my lifestyle, but as you grow older, it’s about building strength, both mentally and physically. You have to find what drives you to stay active and in shape. For me, it’s about challenging myself, finding my limits to become stronger, in order to inspire and influence others around you. Your riders are not inspired by mediocrity – they crave and pursue energy. With that, I am definitely able to eat whatever I want yet still love my body because I am assured that I have worked hard for it.